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Monday, December 14, 2009

Rumor of the Day: Shanda Perkins for TYC Ombudsman?

This is probably idle speculation and I ignored it as highly unlikely when I first heard the rumor (which is all it is right now), but no fewer than three normally knowledgeable sources on juvie justice topics have suggested to me in the last week that the Governor's office is considering Shanda Perkins - the anti-sex toy activist who was rejected 27-4 by the Texas state Senate for a slot on the adult parole board - to replace the indicted ex-judge who was recently forced out of the Texas Youth Commission Ombudsman's slot.

I jokingly suggested this possibility back in May, but if these rumors are accurate there's somebody in the Governor's office who doesn't think it's a joke.

In some ways, I guess, it makes a certain sort of twisted sense. After Sen. John Whitmire shot down Perkins' nomination for the parole board on the Senate floor this spring, which was one of the Governor's more embarrassing moments of the 81st Texas Legislature, I suppose it wouldn't surprise me that much if Rick Perry returned the favor by depositing Ms. Perkins back squarely in the center of the Senate Dean's political wheelhouse. It'd certainly make for some interesting committee hearings.

If such a bizarre thing were to come to pass, here's my thinking on how it might play out. Basically, one of three things could happen: 1) Perkins might turn out to be better than her critics give her credit for and a conscientious religious person may be just what the position needs. 2) She could abuse the slot to proselytize to the kids in ways that would draw down litigation and send her packing just like her predecessor. Or, 3) perhaps most likely, as somebody with no relevant personal or professional background or clear sense of how to do the job, she could find herself in over her head and become a cipher, doing little good but probably little harm as well. At least she probably wouldn't smuggle weapons or drugs onto the units, which would be a plus.

The policy wonk in me says "Please, Governor, find somebody else." But another darker, less constructive part of me can't resist the urge to say, purely for the entertainment value, "Go for it, Governor! That'd be a hoot!" If nothing else it would probably boost my blog traffic. ;)

73 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Whoever is chosen Ombudsman will have a lonely and frustrating uphill struggle at TYC. The old crowd is still very much in place there and they have gotten even tighter and even better at looking out for and rewarding those who toe the party line.

It would be quite interesting to see how well she would deal with the youth...especially when they start masturbating and/or making lewd proposals to her as she tries to talk to them....But...that's my dark side talking.

First she tries to outlaw short skirts. Legs are bad things. Shouldn't show them even though we need them for things like walking and if you subscribe to her philosophy, God created them as part of the package. They might make men think of the bad thing....you know S. E. X.

Then she tried to make us live without sex toys. My sex toy objected in the strongest terms until I explained to him she wasn't talking about the living breathing kind and then he was just confused.

Then The Hair tries to appoint her to the parole board, a move that still makes my poor head want to explode and now he want to put her as TYC ombudsman? As if TYC doesn't have enough problems? Perhaps they have a secret plan to bring some of that good old time religion to our troubled youth. Bring back paddling? Or perhaps there is a much more serious problem and they wish to bring back erection alarms and the DIE ONANIEBANDAGEN. ( Go ahead, look that one up guys and be thankful you were born well after the Victorian Age.) Goodness knows she'd probably be all for it.

Once she's laughed out of this potential position, if this is more than a rumor, have no fear, the plan is in place. Everything is ready for her next project for the Hair. The Crusade Against Cleavage. I have a low cut, skin tight, black V neck top, a Wonder Bra and a very good attorney with a great sense of humor on call. I can't wait. They'll probably try to add it to the ever expanding list of felonies.

Now that I've gotten all that out of my system. On a totally serious note, perhaps it's time to remove the Hair from office and retire him and Ms. Perkins to the nearest Home for the Bewildered where they can be under constant supervision and do no harm.

Just when you think it can't get any worse at TYC, it does!!! Over the many years I worked at TYC I could not believe it continued to get worse by the day. What will Perry come up with next; maybe get kicked out of office!!!

I actually just had Will Harrell teach my Juvenile Justice class at Texas State. He is more than qualified for the job. He was a amazing teacher and even more amazing person. Too bad hes still not in office...

To all: This is the only warning I'm giving on this. I just deleted garbage comments from this string for the second time today, so let me be crystal clear: Stop alleging or insinuating misconduct or criminal activity by coworkers who are not mentioned in the post. That goes triple for anonymous commenters. If you're too cowardly to use your own name, you don't get to talk trash about your fellow employees by name. Not here. Anonymous policy discussions are welcome, but not anonymous personal attacks.

That is not a request. As in the past, if y'all can't refrain from personal attacks by name on fellow employees, particularly ones not mentioned in the post, I'll just eliminate comments on TYC strings altogether. Trash one another somewhere else. I'm sick of it here.

This garbage has been going on for 2 years in TYC...I laugh my ass off everytime I see the crap that is still going on in TYC. It will NEVER be fixed as long as Perry is in office. If you TYC employees and other juvenile justice professionals want to see things get better, vote for ANYONE, except Perry!!!! Our Governor is an idiot!!

Perry's puppets are in place and have been since the beginning of this joke that the State is calling "reform". He has covered up knowing about the W. Texas scandal when it happened and has brought in every incompetent clown from Jay Kimbrough, Ed Owens, Dimitria Pope, Nedelkoff, and now Townsend. None of them have had a clue how to pull TYC out of the sewer it is in, and it keeps on stinking worse everyday. Perry's appointees are terrible, and as long as he is in office, TYC will continue to go down hill. Specific enough?

2:11, you are probably one of Perry's lapdogs like Kimbrough or Owens. Shut up and go lick the Governor's ass. Only a fool would think that there is anything better about TYC now than 3 years ago. It's the same if not worse!

2:11 TYC is NOT better than it was 3 years ago,assaults on staff are 8 times what they were then , kids being sent from TYC to prison is up considerably, assaults of kids on kids is up drastically, the attitudes of the kids is a lot worse; some because we can't coerce them into pretending to be better than they are and some because they know they have problems and want us to pressure them into changing and think the new programs are a joke. The programs can work on most of the kids if staff put in the effort to make it work(which is considerable, it requires much more paper work in evaluating the kids on every shift and the training and skills honing of staff has been grossly inadequate.) We have been doing this for over a year and we're still waiting on detailed instructions on the standards expected in filling out the daily rating sheets, who totals them up, when they total them up, what they do with with the scores on a day to day basis. If you call a big increase in kids being sent to TDCJ ( including 16 year olds being certified for same) plus the increase in riots and attempted murder of staff and teachers, if this is a drastic improvement then you are so right.

WAS THAT POPE WORTH IT WHITMIRE? HELL NO. HOW BOUT HER PEPPER SPAYING SIDE KICK BRONCO BILLY AND ALL HE BROUGHT TO THE TABLE.

IS JUVENILE JUSTICE IN TEXAS BETTER TODAY THAN IT WAS 3 YEARS AGO WHEN WHITMIRE POUNDED HIS FIST AND SAID:

"I WANNA SEE HEADS ROLL."

IS TEXAS ANY BETTER NOW? READ THE PAPERS. LOOK AT WHAT THE PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT. THE PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR THE NEWS. WHITMIRE CAN'T STOP THAT. HE CAN'T STOP WHO CALLS HIM OUT DESPITE HIS POLITICAL INFUENCE. DESPITE HIS SELF-SERVING TAG OF SOME "DEAN" OF THE SENATE, HE'S NOTHING MORE THAN THE "DEAN OF DUMBASS" AND REALLY NEEDS TO BE TREATED ACCORINDINGLY.

THE BEST REMEDY IS TO STOP CASH FLOW IN THIS MODERN DAY HILTOR'S DISRICT - NOW.

When they came to the campuses where I have worked they spent their time actually talking with the kids. They listened to what the kids and staff had to say. The few times I talked with them they were both very straight forward about what they found both positive and what needed to change.

TYC still needs an Ombudsman's office and it should be run by people who are committed to protecting the rights of the kids. The kids have a right to things like a safe environment, medical treatment, education and if needed specialized treatment.

TYC is getting better but we all know that there are still youth who do not get these things and without someone to speak out for them they won't.

I agree with 10:08, Will and his subordinates listened, cared, and wrote a bunch of damn reports. But, they never did more than talk and listen, unfortunately, they did not or shall I say do not have the power or knowledge to effect change in TYC. It is the politicians and their political appointees that continue to keep TYC in a state of chaos and confusion. Nothing will change until they allow proven juvenile justice professionals, to call the shots and make the necessary changes.

The so-called juvenile justice experts are the ones that got TYC into the mess in the first place. Hooray for Perry and Whitmire. Once the last of the 'old' TYC experts are gone, reform can start to take place.

There are many experts in this field outside Texas. The worse thing would be to use tyc-exer's or anyone associated with the past administration for the last fifteen years. They have already shown what they can do for state kids. A real reform would get rid of the left over trash and bring in new, real reformists.

At this point, I think you would have to go out of State to find juvenile justice professionals. The ex-TYCers are tainted mostly through the negative PR and false allegations. A handful are tainted because of their own actions. Juvenile Probation professionals in Texas don't want anything to do with TYC in fear that they may get their good names dragged through the sewer known as TYC. The ones that do want to jump over to TYC from Probation are incompetent. So, it pretty much means that TYC will have to go out of State to find someone that is willing to take a shot at straightening out TYC. Of course, if they don't have the undivided support of the politicians, it will still stay as screwed up as ever.

I want some of what you're smoking. How can you applaud anything that the Governor and the Dean of the Senate has done in regards to TYC? The continual demise of TYC is their doing. Whitmire wants it gone, and will probably get his wish, if things keep going they way they have been. Perry is so sneaky and slippery, I can't figure out if he is trying to destroy the place with his appointees, or if he is really trying to fix TYC, and he is just such an idiot that he doesn't have a clue how to pull it off!

0154...I applaude your insight. Many other tyc's are blinded by their own selfessness and desire to ignore the past and current crisis. TYC is worth saving, however there is no one in TYC or connected to the organization that has the intelligence or JJ knowledge, to bring the out of control contraption back to reality as a state service organization. The youth appear to have as much organization as the employees, at this point. Really shameful what TYC has done to its own destruction.

1:11 & 1:54 Three or four years ago government officials from other states and countries were touring TYC to see how one of the best programs in the world was doing business. Now you believe that bureaucratic incompetence was invented in Texas and the greener pastures over the hill will yield the answers to our prayers. Maybe we just need people in charge with enough sense to know who to listen to; who as in plural, the more plural the better. According to TYC - In The Trenches the last riot in Al Price only resulted in two staff being injured, but of course since TYC isn't releasing press releases the riots can't really be happening. Supposedly five of the staff that were injured in the riot that didn't happen a month ago are still out.

The tours by other States were happening prior to the "sex scandal" that opened up the entire can of supposed "Agency wide abuse that had been happening for years", which was a big fat lie dreamed up by Perry and his lapdog Jay Kimbrough. I don't believe that beauracratic incompetence was invented in Texas, we all know it was invented in Washington D.C.. However, our Governor and his cronies have ripped a page right out of the book of incompetence. The bottom line is, Perry has had a major role in destroying TYC prior to the "W. Texas sex scandal", and continues to destroy it through its "reform".

Some of you must live in small, isolated rooms. The problems of TYC began in Austin with those irresponsible managers and institution nose-butts that allowed all the abuse and mismanagement. Many also knew about these problems and stood quietly by rather than stand up for the abused kids. Live in the house you helped burn down.

You were probably one of those that stood by like the puss you are! There was no wide spread abuse. It was an isolated incident in W. Texas carried out by a couple of pervs! Once it came out in the media, the Governor forgot he already knew about it, so he put his hatchet man into action, and blew it up into this monster it is today. All in an effort to keep the heat off of his ass. The only persons that should have been convicted that have not already been convicted in this whole mess are the pervs from W. Texas and our Great Governor!

WOW 47. You must be one of the last hangoners that likes to supervise, abuse and torment kids at risk. I can't believe you are so limited in your thoughts, a sign that you belong in TYC; behind the bars. How many youngsters have you sent to the emergency room?

1:17pm, you are limited in sight and thought, all you can see is that political ass in front of you and think about how many times you get to kiss it to get to the top. I certainly don't believe in abuse of kids, but I have been known to deal with some incompetent suck asses. Which category do you fit into?

There are many abusers in TYC yet you all continue abuse even exists. People who still work in TYC are either incompetent and know they can not be hired elsewhere, or they just like to engage in child abuse and be covered by their bosses.

12:47 Brookins was in West Texas for less than 2 years before he was fired; thanks to info from West Texas staff. According to some rumors he was transferred there from San Saba (probably by Lydia Barnard) because he was suspected of the same misconduct there. The staff there didn't get him fired, and San Saba isn't West Texas even if it is west of Austin ( or Houston).

He also got by with much misconduct at WT because staff were too timid to bring him out. Though many knew of his abuses they failed for two years to say much to stop the abuse. Go figure. TYC has always been good at passing the blame to another unit or people. Step up for once with the truth about the whole scandal.

Reading the posts on this board about TYC does not exactly create confidence that ANYONE working in TYC is truly capable or knows what in the hell they are doing. The name calling, heckling and barbs being thrown back and forth are what I would expect from your charges NOT FROM YOU...maybe therein lies the problem.

The two years he was at West Texas, he promoted from a Director of Security to the Assistant Superintendent at West Texas, the whole time keeping young boys in his office way past midnight. I guess everyone out there thought he was counseling the young men? Lets just say the ball was dropped by a lot of people which allowed him to get away with what he did. We could start with TDCJ when he was forced to leave this fine establishment without discipline for having the inmates perform on him. But thats another story that was never fully investigated, but true.

Right on 17. No one can do all the things he did with youth at WT, for so long and not be noticed. Several were aware of his misdeeds, however they failed to get involved..don't rock the boat. He was transferred from his prior TYC assignment for the same activities, yet his supervisors covered for him and again at WT. It would be great if all this comes out at his trial, so all would know who covered for who and why so many set by and ignored the abuse. Since some were related to the gov. that part may always be veiled. Those who say there were only two involved are only covering more for the many who knew but refused to act yet watched quietly as the abuse went on. Everyone involved knows there were many more than the two perverts that abused kids.

I concur w/ the last posters. The folks in Austin and throughout the state know that West Texas is the stink that brought down the whole state system. Thats why West Texas is being closed so the stink will slowly go away and the agency can get a new start. One can't forget a garbage dump that stinks constantly. Solution - cover up the dump and clear the air. Good-bye WT.

The idiot 10:43 post, when I said two pervs were involved, I meant they were involved in the first hand sexual abuse of the youth at WT. I guess you can say other secondary abusers were involved (those that knew and didn't report it). However, to say that there was Agency wide child abusers in TYC is simply bullshit! Yes, there were a few here and there, but for the most part, those that were confirmed in investigations were dealt with accordingly. All you haters out there can believe what ever you want to, but these are the facts. The Governor's jackoff man, Kimbrough was brought in to make it look like there was abuse being hidden in every corner of TYC to make the Governor look better for being a part of the W. Texas cover up. Believe it. I can't wait to see if Brookins and Hernandez go to trial. I bet they cop to some probation plea bargain that calls for no jail time. Our fine Governor just can't afford for things to go public in regards to what all he knew about the sexual abuse in W. Texas, especially in an election year.

Stop blaming the governor for TYC abuses. Yes, he and his did do some covering after the incidents but those in TYC that directly knew about the sex abuse covered while it was going on. The San Saba sex abuse was known by the soon to be ass't at WT, from before and during the WT abuses, yet he didn't act for two years. Other WT employees, including administrators also knew about the sex abuse and also watched and acted as though all was just swell. Stop the coverup now and admit to your part in the abuses. It was many more than the two on hand sex abusers. Clean it up or leave the agency. Clean it all up or close WT and TYC altogether. Enough lies and continual coverups. Either you are double ignorant or part of the continuing abuse coverups. HNW.

Please keep in mind tyc has a 120 year history of physically, mentally, verbally and sexually abusing the throw away kids of Texas. This is not the exception this is the norm, and tyc has serious consequences for “Breaking Norms”.

From early on tyc hired farmers who needed extra cash and/or slave child labor. Its work force mainly came from local back water towns folks like gatesville. Moving into the 70’s and 80’s government agencies, like tyc adopted the hiring practice of affirmative action. With tyc this new hiring practice allowed them to get better people than the local red nicks while still scraping the bottom of the DNA intelligence pool. Also during that time tyc hired grunts returning home from Vietnam who remained close to Ft Hood and would settle for the very low pay rate. I mean no disrespect to their service just stating a historical fact.

So you begin to see the pattern in tyc hiring practice over its lifetime. A do as your told work force who can’t see past their boss and is not about to let anyone below their rank see past them.

The tyc was a different place for black employees as well as inmates in the turdman era and slowly began to improve in the jackass era. The two top dogs when the gatesville culture was moved to the boys home in Giddings were black, crinshaw and buckner. Ol buckner had a program called DeCon and it was as much of a joke then as the current Con Nextions program is today.

As we role through the 80’ and 90’s with the affirmative action hiring practice catching on with its cheap labor cost, it was inevitable in that prison/ghetto culture to form the very mature 2 party gangster government we see in place today. And as some of you posters point out some things never change like the inmates gangster government is mostly in charge. I would be willing to bet those 2 homosexuals in West Texas were nothing more than victims where the kids were simply acting out G, their hold over the punks, sexually in this case. This goes back to the historical practice of inmates punking out staff. We’re talking about tyc here, people. This isn’t ever going to trial in public because of the can of worms it will open to the public today. It would be a tremendous embarrassment to how tyc has been and is managed from the governor’s office all the way down to the dorm man/matron or jco as it’s called today.

So Boyness, here is a historical perspective to your statement and the following anonymous post 12/25/2009 8:24pm, a possible tyc employee, is a good example of this hiring practice. The tyc hires salt of the earth good people who care about their J O B’s, but the expectation of these employees is SO WAY out of line, its wasteful. It’s like if I hired a jco to work for me as an engineer, they’re out of their league. The tyc is a youth prison and hires as such, yet, there are some that think tyc should be a social science experiment. Wishful thinking but simply not practical in the great red state of Texas.

Today tyc only excepts felons, it’s a youth prison people. Put a plate full of ham in front of a Rabbi, tell him its roast beef and see where that gets you. It’s no wonder there is so much drama around tyc with the people who are wanting to make it something it isn’t. I can still remember the circus called Morales v turdman. Ringling Brothers has nothing on that. This dance has been going on for a long time and now with tyc only taking felons its moving in the direction of a youth prison and will make it easy to treat it as such in future legislation. This is turdmans dream in the 60’s and the hiring practice over the last 50 years has made this dream easy for Elmer Fudd to bring into reality. For example, some people criticized turdman for building mountain view as a fenced in facility. Now all the tyc facility’s have much more mincing fencing than mountain view has.

So what the hay, let the lame duck Aggie cheer leader appoint the sex toy queen as tyc ombudsmen, she’ll fit right in. I said the same thing about the pardons a parole board. As the turdman tyc plan continues to move forward with Elmer Fudd leading the charge its becoming the only plan that is actually doable in Texas. If there were enough people who truly want tyc to be the social science experiment and actually help a majority of its referrals it would hire, train and support it employees. The office of Ombudsmen would be independent like it is today and there would be someone with an attitude like mine to be a watchdog over tyc. Or at least a Will Harrell who actually has skill sets to go along with attitude.

The sex toy queen will be the ombudsmen like the 70’s, a real patsy of a joke, a crash dummy as the kids say today. So this appointment says a lot about how our lame duck Aggie cheer leader feels about reforming tyc. How ignorant does he, or any legislator, think their constituency is? Yet, those guys social science experiment with tyc reformers may be more right on than some give them credit.

Sheldon, some of your comments may have merit but no credibility to support them. You mirror the criminal that commits crime so he can write a book to make money from victims that want to learn about criminals and how they rip off the public and harm society. With your criminal past it is difficult to believe any of your rants about anything. Should one hire a criminal to protect a loved one since the criminal knows the other criminals thoughts? Simply doesn't make any sense. Maybe you have fooled some dimwits but most of us see through your veiled lifestyle and feel sorry for you and your past victims. Try getting your personal victims to buy into your roadshow of criminal behavior.

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